Refillable pencil

ABSTRACT

A refillable pencil comprising among various structural components a lead braking clamp forming an integral portion of a hollow body member of injected plastic material and a lead locking clamp forming an integral portion of a tubular member of injected plastic material slidingly disposed in said hollow body member, whereby the construction of the pencil is simplified and its manufacturing costs are reduced.

nited States Paten 1 1 1 1 3,854,825

Girella Dec. 17, 1974 [54] REFILLABLE PENCIL 2,473,149 6/1949 Juelss401/65 2,496,554 2 1950 L 401 65 [75] Inventor: Albert Girella, Geneva,Switzerland ynn [73] Assignee: Fabrique Suisse De Crayons Caran FOREIGNPATENTS OR APPLICATIONS DAche S.A., Geneva, Switzerland 601,868 2/1960ltaly. 401/93 1 1 e pr Primary Examiner-Lawrence Charles PP ,472Attorney, Agent, or. Firm-Emory L. Groff, Jr.

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data [57] ABSTRACT Oct. 3, 1972Switzerland l4402/721 A refillable pencll comprlsmg among var1ous struc-52 US. Cl. 401/94, 401/65 cmpnems a lead braking clamp fmming 51 1111.01B43k 21/16 tegral of a hollQW body member 0f injected [58.] Field ofSearch 401/6567 Plastic material and a lead lcking clamp fmming 4O1/8895 integral portion of a tubular member of injected plas-. tic materialslidingly disposed in said hollow body [56] Refer'ences Cited member,whereby the construction of the pencil is UNITED STATES PATENTSsimplified and its manufacturing costs are reduced. 2,243,109 5/1941Lynn, 401/65 2 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures REFILLABLE PENCIL BACKGROUND OFTHE INVENTION The present invention relates to refillable pencils andmore particularly to an improved refillable pencil of simplifiedconstruction, which can be manufactured at low cost.

Known refillable pencils comprise a hollow body member, a tubular membeslidingly disposed in said hollow body member for receiving a lead, saidtubular member comprising at one of its ends a clamp for releasablylocking said lead and at its other end a push button projecting fromsaid hollow body member, for allowing a user to displace said slidingtubular member against the biasing action of a compressible spring, anannular member of wedge shaped longitudinal section being disposed,between said locking clamp and the inner surface of a wall portion ofsaid hollow body member, for displacement between two stop meansdisposed fixedly relative to said hollow body member, whereby to allowsaid locking clamp to be tightened and said sliding tubular member to besimultaneously locked, against the biasing action of said compressiblespring, when said annular member engages one of said stop means and toallow said locking clamp to be released, when said annular memberengages the other one of said stop means, said hollow body membercomprising a frictional clamp for braking said lead. I

However, the prior art refillable pencils are not satisfactory becausetheir construction is complicated and their manufacturing costs arehigh.

Now it has been proved possible to obviate the drawbacks of the priorart pencils by providing a refillable pencilpthe locking and brakingclamps of which form integral portions of other structural parts of thepencil.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore a general object of theinvention to provide a refillable pencil having an improved structurewhich overcomes the drawbacks of prior art pencils of this type andwhich is simple and inexpensive. I

A principal object of the present invention is to provide a refillablepencil comprising a hollow body member, a tubular member slidinglydisposed in said hollow body member for receiving a lead, a clamp meansfor releaseably locking said lead, a means for allowing a user toactuate said tubular member against an resilient said hollow body memberare made of injected plastic material.

A further object of the invention is to provide a refillable pencil,wherein said sliding tubular member defines a passage, which isopen atboth ends, whereby to allow the introducing of the lead at the rear endor at surface of a wall portion of said sliding tubular member, wherebyto retain said sliding tubular member against the biasing action of saidresilient means, when there is no lead in the pencil.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a refillable pencil,wherein said clamp of said sliding tubular member has roughened surfacesfor enhancing its frictional force on said lead.

Various other more detailed objects, features and advantages of theinvention, such as arise in connection with carrying out the inventionin practical embodiments, will be in part obvious, and in part be statedin the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING respective positions at the end ofamanipulation for ad- I vancing a lead, and

FIGS. 3 and 4 are enlarged fragmentary sectional views showing portionsof FIGS. 1 and 2 respectively.

DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS It should, of course, be understoodthat the description and drawing herein are illustrative -only, and thatvarious modifications and changes can be madein the structure disclosedwithout departing from the spirit of the invention.

Similar reference numerals refer to similar parts throughout the views.

The refillable pencil shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 of the accompanying drawingcomprises a hollow body I made of injected plastic material, an end 2 ofwhich is provided with a bore 3 for guiding a lead 4. The bore 3 extendsin the direction of the interior of the hollow body 1. At the inner endof the bore 3 the hollow body 1 is provided with small tongues 5 formingintegral portions thereof and constituting a clamp for braking the lead4, the brakng action being obtained by means of the elastic friction ofthetongues 5 on the lead 4.

In the inner space of the hollow body 1 is slidingly disposed a tubularmember 6, an end of which is split in form of small tongues 7constituting a clamp 7 for releaseably locking the lead 4. The tongues 7are surrounded by an annular member 8 having a wedge shapedlongitudinalsection and which is disposed for sliding movement betweena' stop means formed by an annular shoulder 9 of the inner surface of awall portion of the hollow body 1 and another stop means formed by a rim10 of a sleeve 11 disposed in the hollow body 1.

The rim 10 of the sleeve 11 also supports one of the ends of a helicalspring 12 surroundingthe sliding tubular member 6, the other end of thespring 12 being supported by a shoulder 13 of the member 6.

The sliding tubular member 6 extends substantially over the whole lengthof the hollow body 1 and forms 'at the rear end of the body 1 aprojection constituting a pushbutton 14 to be pressed by the user of therefillable pencil, for moving the lead 4 out of the pencil. At the rearend of the pencil, the sliding tubular member 6 is provided on its outerwall surface with an annular rib disposed for cooperation with anannular rib 16 located on the inner wall surface of the hollow body 1.

The sliding tubular member 6 as well as the hollow body 1 being made ofinjected plastic material, the inherent elasticity of the hollow body 1and of the member 6 allow the mounting of the refillable pencil byintroducing the member 6 through the open rear end of the body 1 and byexerting, on the member 6, a pressure sufficient to cause said annularribs 15 and 16 to pass over each other and to come in the position shownin FIG. 1. v

The sliding tubular member 6 is open at both ends, thus allowing thelead 4 to be introduced in the pencil at the front end or at the rearend of this pencil.

When the structural parts of the refillable pencil are in the positionshown in FIG. 1, the spring 12 urges the tubular member 6 in its rearposition and the annular member 8 presses the tongues 7 of the lockingclamp 7 against the lead 4, the sloping outer surfaces of the smalltongues 7 cooperating with the associated truncated cone shaped innersurface of the annular member 8. The structural parts of the refillablepencil are during writing in the position shown in FIG. 1.

For feeding'or advancing the lead the user may press on the push-button14 for displacing the sliding 6 placement, the annular member 8 and thetongues 7 are displaced in an interlocked relationship, the pressureexerted by the tongues 7 on the lead 4 being maintained. Accordingly,the lead 4.advances together with the tubular member 6 until the annularmember 8 engages the stop shoulder 9. Then the continuation of theadvancing movement of the tubular member 6 causes the tongues 7 to bereleased from the annular member 8, the locking action of the tongues 7on the lead 4 being suppressed, as illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 4.

When the user releases thepush-button 14, the spring 12 returns thesliding tubular member 6 in its position shown in FIG. 3, the slidingannular member 8 being pulled rearward by the tubular member 6. Uponengagement of the member 8 with the rim 10, the tongues 7 wedgethemselves in between the member 8 and the lead 4, whereby the lead 4 islocked. During the return movement of the tubular member 6, the lead 4remains immobile owing to the braking action of the tongues 5.

For enhancing the frictional locking force between the locking clamp 7and the lead 4, small grooves or projections may, of course, be providedon surfaces of n the tongues 7, which cooperate with the-lead 4.

While certain preferred embodiments of the invention have beenillustrated by way of example in the drawing and particularly described,it will be understood that various modifications may be made inconstruction and that the invention is in no way limited to theembodiments shown. Since certain changes may be made in the abovedescribed embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention,it is intended that all matter contained in the above description, orshown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative,rather than in a limiting sense,

1 claim:

1. A mechanical lead pencil comprising a hollow body including a boredlead receiving end, return spring within said body, a sliding tubularlead holding member within said body and having a portion thereofsurrounded by said spring, said body and, said lead holding member bothmade of plastic material possessing limited resilience, said leadholding member including at one end a plurality of clamping tongues toclamp the lead and at the opposite end a pushbutton projecting out ofthe end of said body opposite said lead receiving end to permit the userto move the sliding lead holding member against the action of saidreturn' spring, a wedge shaped annular member disposed between saidtongues and the inner wall of said hollow body, first and second stopmeans above and below said annular member, the engagement of saidannular member with said second stop means ensuring the clamping of saidtongues and simultaneously locking said lead holding member against theaction of said spring, the engagement of said annular member with saidfirst stop means ensuring the release of said tongues, braking tonguesin said hollow body exerting friction against said lead, the inner wallof said hollow body provided with an annular rib, the outer wall of saidsliding lead holding member also provided with an annular rib so as tokeep said sliding memberin place against the action of said spring inthe absence of a lead in said pencil, said lead holding member beingintegral with said clamping tongues, said push button also integral withsaid lead holding member, said lead holding member being of reducedouter diameter near said clamping tongues and including a shoulderseparating the reduced diameter portion from the larger portion, saidspring having one of its ends abutting said shoulder, the opposite endof said spring abutting said second stop means, whereby, when lead isremoved from said sliding member said sliding member and spring may bewithdrawn completely from said body by axially pulling said push-buttonaway from said body to force said slidand is open at both ends.

1. A mechanical lead pencil comprising a hollow body including a boredlead receiving end, return spring within said body, a sliding tubularlead holding member within said body and having a portion thereofsurrounded by said spring, said body and said lead holding member bothmade of plastic material possessing limited resilience, said leadholding member including at one end a plurality of clamping tongues toclamp the lead and at the opposite end a pushbutton projecting out ofthe end of said body opposite said lead receiving end to permit the userto move the sliding lead holding member against the action of saidreturn spring, a wedge shaped annular member disposed between saidtongues and the inner wall of said hollow body, first and second stopmeans above and below said annular member, the engagement of saidannular member with said second stop means ensuring the clamping of saidtongues and simultaneously locking said lead holding member against theaction of said spring, the engagement of said annular member with saidfirst stop means ensuring the release of said tongues, braking tonguesin said hollow body exerting friction against said lead, the inner wallof said hollow body provided with aN annular rib, the outer wall of saidsliding lead holding member also provided with an annular rib so as tokeep said sliding member in place against the action of said spring inthe absence of a lead in said pencil, said lead holding member beingintegral with said clamping tongues, said push button also integral withsaid lead holding member, said lead holding member being of reducedouter diameter near said clamping tongues and including a shoulderseparating the reduced diameter portion from the larger portion, saidspring having one of its ends abutting said shoulder, the opposite endof said spring abutting said second stop means, whereby, when lead isremoved from said sliding member said sliding member and spring may bewithdrawn completely from said body by axially pulling said push-buttonaway from said body to force said sliding member rib to pass said bodyrib.
 2. A mechanical lead pencil as claimed in claim 1 wherein saidsliding tubular lead holding member has a longitudinally extending borethroughout its length and is open at both ends.